Chapter 1
The newly sanctioned bridge officers of the Haarlock Dynasty, an ancient Rogue Trader house, are summoned to the private hangar of the command citadel of the Clockwork Horror: The flagship of the Haarlock Dyntasy, a symbol of their might to rule over the isolated system of Anesidora without contest, an ancient Dictator cruiser from millenia ago, renown for its recovery from a spacehulk and more infamously known for its blasphemous tendencies from the long ages it drifted through the warp. Its aged and retiring Lord-Captain Haniel Harkonnen calls upon these new officers for an important task: the first officer, disfranchised heir and eldest son of Haniel, Ulrich Harkonnen: his right to captaincy revoked for his leading-role in an especially catastrophic attempt to voyage beyond the edge of the Aneisdora system, and the newly appointed agents of the command staff, also involved in the disastrous voyage: Hannibal, a pale hairless mutant and Navigator of the Navis Nobilate renegade house Nostromo: the product of a strain of genetic tinkering outrageous even by Nostromo standards, and Ares, a Tech-Priest of Mars, a dark-crimson robed cyborg agent and member of the unusual explorator caste, and most senior agent of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Chief Engineseer of the Clockwork Horror. Upon their arrival to the main flight-deck of the exclusive and richly appointed hangar, the new officers quickly spot one of the Haarlock’s two, luxurious Aqulia landers, its engine already blessed, primed and fired - quietly idling: a sure sign that an expedient departure was imminent. The Lord-Captain Haniel, enthroned in his life-sustaining contra-gravity command-throne, motions the officers to his side. The Lord-Captain's aide and companion, Ibid, the ancient cybernetic hunchback scribe quietly wheezes closeby his master, clutching a cluster of anointed and blessed dataslates. With little fuss, and some prompting from Ibid for particular details, Haniel speaking directly to his son, Ares and Hannibal, the situation is quickly summarized: Haniel’s younger brother and soon to be Lord-Captain, Canaris, had been sent earlier to a remote Haarlock operation in the deep-arid scrub plains of Aneidora to confirm certain archeological findings; within the remains of one of the many hulked and buried remnants of the five hundred year old colonial fleet that lie mostly forgotten on the surface, or in deep space of the Aneisdora system, a hunch has been confirmed. This particular expedition was sanctioned by the results of an extensive decade-long collation of records, scripts, interrogation and interview recordings and data-vaults from a number of different vessels, painstaking recovered by various means, from the long disappeared colonization fleet: an ancient navigation relic, a Void Abacus, was secreted aboard one of the colonial vessels, and its hulk has been positively identified. The recovery of this relic may allow the Clockwork Horror to escape the warpstorm that surrounds Aneisdora. Canaris has just voxxed the Clockwork Horror, confirmed the presence of the Void Abacus and requests additional support. Lord-Captain Haniel, sparing no resources, immediately summoned the new bridge officers to assist their Captain, in a hopeful first step to connect the diminished Haarlock colony of Anesidora with the rest of the House Haarlock and the Imperium of Man – a privilege lost for half a millennium. Brooking little time to answer questions, Lord-Captain Haniel quickly requires the officers to embark upon the Aqulia and engage their abilities to the utmost in support of the recovery of this relic. Haniel orders the officers to embark upon the Aquila Lander, Ibid scurrying beside the hover-throne, quickly thrusts a dataslate towards Ulrich with wizened bionic fingers: the slate containing a collection of important details about the site. Securing themselves in the luxuriously appointed Lander, typically used exclusively as a means of opulent conveyance for house agents on important public missions, or bringing impressionable dignitaries or fellow elites to the flagship, the craft departs quickly. The super-earth of Aneisdora, a mottled brown-green sphere of large plains, expansive flat plateaus and thin sparse deep green seas, quickly fills the viewing ports as the vessel descends. A few of the expansive, skeetal stripped and picked-over ruins of the original colonial complexes are visible, as well as the smaller and compact fortified clan holdings that have developed since; the numerous and dangerous native life of Aneisdora had been mostly benign until the warpstorm half a millennia ago, since becoming extremely hostile and deadly. The Orks of Aneisdora mostly undetectable, isolated in the mountains or the wastes, any concentration of Ork is met with deadly force by clan air-strikes, one of the few forces that would compel them to act in concert: aircraft being ubiquitous, the primary means of travel beyond the clanholds, ground travel being extremely dangerous, unless in large convoys or cumbersome STC pattern haulers. The Aqulia Lander shudders as it enters the atmosphere, changing its flight characteristics to aerodynamic flight, as it begins its atmospheric approach to the armoured Haarlock encampment around a massive irregular mound, presumably a portion of the concealed hulk. The final approach reveals more complete details: a fortified walled compound with a half-dozen heavy stubber hard-points, a small collection of pre-fabricated Haarlock used STC pattern structures, including genetoria, vox-mast, quarters, dedicated AdMech enclosure, and two landing berths – one already occupied with an Arvus lighter in discrete Haarlock livery. Two massive STC pattern rovers, and four hulking mono-task servitors are clearly present, and the various armsmen and agents, as they prepare for the Aquila’s imminent arrival. The officers disembark and greet the commanding officer, Greenling, and a squad of troops in proper parade formation for their esteemed arrival. The officers taking an informal stance engage Greenling in a discussion about the current situation, Greenling apparently agitated by the presence of an Ork, the infamous companion of Canaris, picked up in the last couple of years. Canaris and the Ork are in the canteen, returned from their expedition within the hulk, but they did not return with the squad they brought with them. Ulrich engages Canaris in conversation about the mission, Hannibal demurely inspects the compound idly, unnerving many, while Ares directly engages with the Tech-Priests maintaining the technical equipment of the compound. Canaris, unsettled by his experience answers many questions vaguely, evasively, perhaps deceptively – but does given his dataslate and reveal that warp entities may have been released near the relic. The solemn Ork guardian, who appears no worse for wear, comments vaguely about a good fight. Ares makes contact with the Tech-Priests who are very receptive to requests about the Arvus Lighter, and patching a discrete link into the comm channels for Ares to monitor: the Arvus is the specific transport of Canaris, and despite its appearance is heavily armed, and likewise, scandalously designed for the Ork to pilot – the Tech-Priests are currently engaged in a non-specific diagnostic of the Arvus at the request of Canaris. Warned about the possible warp presence, it is quickly confirmed by Hannibal as being true. The officers wait until dawn to being their exploration of the hulk, Canaris, apparently waiting for their departure, has the Tech-Priests continually perform maintenance rituals on his craft. The trio, leave at dawn and begin their exploration of the hulk, shortly upon entering, Ares finds that his comm does not work through the hulk and cannot maintain a communication line with the Tech-Priests outside. After a number of hours, exploring routes through abandoned silent corridors and avoiding ambient hazards, no path could be found to the vault. As they make their way back to the entrance, Ares begins to detect a distress call from his comm line. Quickening their pace, the trio find the aftermath of an assault: The base camp is in ruins, the survivors huddled within the edges of the hulk, the structures destroyed, voxx tower downed and genetoria violently detonated, the dead and wounded scattered amongst the smouldering ruins. Taking quick and decisive action, Ulrich quickly establishes order, the wounded helped or granted the Emperor’s Mercy, fires extinguished and supplies recovered. The survivors report the Arvus, quickly departing on news the Clockwork Horror was breaking orbit and journeying to the edge of the system, made a number of attack runs on the base before roaring into the sky. Food and water are recovered in abundance, 3 of the heavy stubbers and plenty of ammunition, the servitors and haulers are recovered: their original Aquila lander is damaged, but potentially recoverable, and of the 120 souls, 40 remain – Greenling and all of the Tech-Priests among the dead. Ares, finding the remains of one of the Tech-Priest near the Aquila wreck, was able to recover some recordings the dead Tech-Priest had in a damaged dataslate, implicating that Canaris was aware or responsible for the attack. Hannibal, his mutant fortitude aiding him, was able to recover much of the supplies, also voiced his concern about the damaged perimeter and potential danger. The officers decide that retreating into the hulk, and significantly decreasing their defensive area. The haulers, and servitors move inside, which the officers and remaining troops fortify a raised position: any further investigation will wait until first light, if the Clockwork Horror truly has left, it won’t return for many days. Around dusk - Ork attack. Surprise + raised position + lights = dead Orks, in short order.